Management of Acute Pulmonary Hypertensive Crisis in Children With Known Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

July 13, 2022 updated by: Chandra Ramamoorthy, Stanford University

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease where the blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries (PAP) is high. PAH increases the risk of adverse events, including death, during and or after procedures. The severity of baseline PAH correlates with the incidence of major complications, such that those with PAP higher than their systemic blood pressure (SBP) had a 8 fold increased risk of complications. These children present for procedures where an acute exacerbation of their chronic illness-termed Pulmonary Hypertensive (PH)crisis, can occur, often resulting in death if not detected and managed expeditiously. Unfortunately there is little data and no consensus in the pediatric literature on how PH crisis should be managed.

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Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease where the blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries (PAP) is high. PAH increases the risk of adverse events, including death, during and or after procedures. The severity of baseline PAH correlates with the incidence of major complications, such that those with PAP higher than their systemic blood pressure (SBP) had a 8 fold increased risk of complications. These children present for procedures where an acute exacerbation of their chronic illness-termed PH crisis, can occur, often resulting in death if not detected and managed expeditiously. Unfortunately there is little data and no consensus in the pediatric literature on how PH crisis should be managed. Over the last 10 years we have developed considerable expertise in managing children with PAH and preventing and treating their acute crisis, using a medication called phenylephrine. This medication is routinely used to increase the blood pressure in patients (adults and children) to treat hypotension. Our theory has been that by increasing SBP, we can increase the blood flow to the coronary arteries and prevent the right ventricle from failing acutely. The latter results in catastrophic hypotension, heart arrythmias and death. There is no consensus or protocol guiding the management of the acute crisis. This purpose of this study is to close that gap.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

15

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Stanford, California, United States, 94043
        • Cardiac Catheterization Lab,Stanford University Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

2 years to 14 years (Child, Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients presenting for cardiac catheterization procedure with a diagnosis of PAH either by previous cardiac catheterization or echocardiography

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Children presenting for cardiac catheterization who do not have PAH;
  • Children with PAH but with intracardiac shunts

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Phenylephrine
Phenylephrine will be administered once the child is under anesthesia and the interventional cardiologist has measured the pressures in the pulmonary artery.
Drug: Phenylephrine
5 subjects will get Phenylephrine during cardiac catheterization in patient with known Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.Dose will be 1ug/kg body weight. Pressures in the pulmonary artery will be measured before and after the drug administration.
Other Names:
  • Phenylephrine Hydrochloride
Experimental: Epinephrine
Epinephrine will be administered once the child is under anesthesia and the interventional cardiologist has measured the pressures in the pulmonary artery.
Drug: Epinephrine
5 subjects will get Epinephrine during cardiac catheterization in patient with known Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.Dose will be 0.5-1ug/kg body weight. Pressures in the pulmonary artery will be measured before and after the drug administration.
Other Names:
  • Epinephrine injection
Experimental: Arginine Vasopressin
Arginine Vasopressin will be administered once the child is under anesthesia and the interventional cardiologist has measured the pressures in the pulmonary artery.
Drug: Arginine Vasopressin
5 subjects will get Arginine Vasopressin during cardiac catheterization in patient with known Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.Dose will be 1ug/kg body weight. Pressures in the pulmonary artery will be measured before and after the drug administration.
Other Names:
  • Vasopressin injection

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Systemic Vascular Resistance Index (SVRI) to Pulmonary Vascular Resistance Index (PVRI) Ratio (Rp:Rs Ratio)
Time Frame: Day 1 (at baseline and up to 5 minutes following study drug administration) (Q: 2 minutes - 2 to 5 minutes?)
In patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) one anticipates a greater increase in pulmonary vascular resistance as opposed to systemic vascular resistance when vasopressors are administered.
Day 1 (at baseline and up to 5 minutes following study drug administration) (Q: 2 minutes - 2 to 5 minutes?)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Stanford University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Chandra Ramamoorthy, MD, Cardiac Anesthesia, Stanford University Medical Ctr.

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

January 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

June 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 30, 2014

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 26, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

June 30, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 5, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 13, 2022

Last Verified

July 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 22554

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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